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Small-scale farmers and chefs have a common complaint: There just
aren’t enough hours in the day. Chefs want to source food
locally, but the farmer’s market isn’t the most convenient
option, and contacting farmers individually eats up too much
time. Farmers, meanwhile, want to sell directly to chefs and
other wholesale
buyers, but most don’t have the bandwidth to extensively market and
distribute their products.

Environmental economist Christina McAlpin set out to create a
new-school solution for this age-old problem. In 2013, she
launched Direct Local
Food, an online marketplace that makes it easy for wholesale
buyers to find local food, place orders and schedule deliveries.
After testing the platform in Boise, McAlpin is now working to
build local networks nationally.

Entrepreneur spoke with McAlpin about how connecting
farmers and foodies – and removing logistical barriers in the
process – can bolster the food movement.

Entrepreneur: What inspired you to try to tackle the
local food movement?McAlpin: I’ve always interested in ways that
business can benefit the environment and society, and the other
way around. I was working on creating an indoor, year-round space
for a farmer’s market, and through that I heard about the
challenges wholesale buyers face in sourcing local food. Farmers
work really long days and don’t have time to market their
products. On the other side, chefs have to make 50 calls to check
availability and place orders. It almost creates such a barrier
that some chefs may be unlikely to buy local food. If they’re
going to support local food, they need to do it in the least
time-intensive way. The vision with Direct Local Food is to not
only make it easier for people who are already buying local food
but also make it so easy that more people will use more local
food.

Entrepreneur: Why is traditional distribution not the
best option for many farmers?McAlpin: Food is traditionally distributed via
distribution centers and large trucks. For example, before
potatoes from Idaho to get into a chain grocery store in Idaho,
they go to Salt Lake City to get distributed and then get trucked
back up here. That means you need to pick sooner, need more
sprays, there’s a bigger environmental impact. It also adds costs
in the supply chain that aren’t beneficial to the farmer.

Entrepreneur:And the farmer’s
market?
McAlpin: I love going to the farmers market. It’s a
wonderful experience. Sometimes you don’t have time for an
experience, especially if you’re a chef.

Entrepreneur:The local food market
hasn’t exactly embraced e-commerce, in part because of the
logistics of distributing fresh food. Why do you think this model
can work?
McAlpin: I spent a lot of time talking with farmers and
buyers about how they do business and how they could see this
working. What I heard loud and clear was: ‘We really like our
relationships. It’s why we do what we do. We love being
connected.’ People love how food connects them and how doing
business in food connects them. With that in mind, we built
platform so there is full visibility of phone numbers. They can
call if they have questions and even call to place an order. We
had to change our whole business model [from fee-based to
membership-based] in order to support that.

Entrepreneur: What other changes did you make?
McAlpin: We de-emphasized email links because chefs and
farmers aren’t on their computers all day. People said it might
be two or three days before they checked email. They’re more
likely to be on their phones, so calling, texting and mobile apps
are a better option. We’re working on apps for this coming
summer.

Entrepreneur: Your beta in Boise was successful, but how
will you roll this out nationally?
McAlpin: Because of the way we’re approaching the
business model, not taking commission and offering free
memberships to farmers, we’re connecting with people across the
country who are volunteering to help us spread the word. Our
customers want to be connected.

Entrepreneur:Given what you’ve learned
about your customers, how have you personally changed how you
communicate with them?
McAlpin: I think the best time to connect with someone
is when they want to connect with you. That sounds flippant, but
I mean it. I see customer support as my number one tool for
staying connected, because that’s when they need to speak with
me. That’s the number one thing when I’m organizing my work. When
they contact me I get right back, and I always try to pick up the
phone when it rings.